Fasting Metabolism & Political Activism

[This article has been submitted to American Society for Nutrition as a blog]

Anna Hazare, an anti-corruption activist in India, has been sitting on indefinite fast since the last eleven days. Being a Gandhian by philosophy he applies non-violent means of protest to raise his concerns. I have been closely following on the developments since his fast began and therefore was tempted to write this blog about fasting metabolism.

Fasting as a political tool has been used since a long time and was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi whose longest fasts went up to a period of three weeks. Since then it continues to inspire many activists throughout the world, one of the famous being Kieran Doherty's hunger-strike in Northern Ireland which lasted 73 days!

Anna Hazare during his indefinite fast at Ramlila Maidan.

So, how long can a person stay alive with only water and no food?

A general estimate for a normal healthy male would be about 35-40 days, however there have been no controlled studies in this direction due to obvious ethical reasons. The survival would of course largely vary between individuals, depending on their genetic makeup, body condition, age and other factors. Females could survive much longer than males owing to a higher fat to protein ratio (since fats are more calorie dense than proteins). When the body is depleted of exogenous nutrients, it starts mobilizing the fat and protein stores to meet maintenance energy needs. Calorically speaking, a person could survive as long as all the fat and protein reserves last, however once the micronutrients such as vitamins become limiting, survival is compromised.

Exogenous glucose lasts for up to 5 hrs once fasting has commenced. Once all the glucose is depleted, the energy needs of metabolism are met by glucose derived from glycogen stored in the liver and muscle. Glucose from glycogen can serve as a dominant energy source for up to 1 d, after which renal and hepatic gluconeogenesis from adipose fat and muscle protein start taking over.

The liver converts fats into ketone bodies, mainly β-hydroxy butyrate and acetoacetate, a process called ketosis. The capability of long-term survival in humans really depends on the adaptability of human brain to utilize these ketone bodies as the main energy source. The glycerol produced on release of free fatty acids can directly be used for gluconeogenesis.

After two days of starvation, about 60% of the glucose is supplied by liver. The main sources for glucose synthesis in liver are alanine from muscle, glycerol from lipolysis and recycled lactate and pyruvate. The remaining 40% of glucose needs is met by the kidney using glycerol from adipose and glutamine from muscle. A prolonged starvation might be fatal mainly due to organ failure, as is the case in anorexia.

Ancient medicinal systems like Ayurveda recommend short term fasting to detoxify and purge the body of unwanted chemicals. There can also be several physiological benefits from short-term fasting. Large amount of literature is now available to show the significance of calorie restriction in extending life span. Other benefits of fasting could be lower risk of heart diseases and higher insulin sensitivity. Fasting is also used as a spiritual tool to turn one's mind inwards into introspection and self-inquiry, and thus is practiced in many religions. However, there can be various associated side effects like nausea, headaches and muscle aches, and therefore a physician’s advice is recommended.

I would like to end with a quote by Mark Twain which says, "A little starvation can really do more for the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors."

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References:

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.nutr.26.061505.111258

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-long-can-a-person-sur&page=2

http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2011/05/13/the-science-of-starvation-how-long-can-humans-survive-without-food-or-water/

Image from:

http://www.freepressjournal.in/tfp_cms/gall_content/2011/8/2011_8$largeimg217_Aug_2011_202432967.jpg

ADSA-ASAS Joint Annual Meeting in New Orleans (July 10 -14)

Link to my blog for American Society for Nutrition

Oil of the future: Nutritionally Enhanced Soybean Oil with Omega-3 Fatty Acid

Abbreviations: EPA (Eicosopentaenoic acid); DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid); ALA (Alpha-linolenic acid); SDA (Stearidonic acid)

Rarely do you get a chance to try a product which has not yet been released in the market. At the media breakfast sponsored by Solae, we got just that - Soymega^TM Muffins! This blog covers the highlights of ASN’s pre-conference satellite symposium: ‘Heart Healthy Omega-3s for Food: Stearidonic Acid as a Sustainable Choice’. The conference was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Solae and Monsanto.

Omega-3s are long chain fatty acid which allow efficient working of fishes in cold environments. However, they are of many different types and their functionality greatly varies. Main source of animal based omega-3s is seafoods (tuna & salmon being most common in US) which provide EPA and DHA, and that of plant origin is flaxseed, walnuts etc. The problem with plant-based sources is that they provide ALA, which is not efficiently converted to EPA & DHA (more useful forms of omega-3s) in the body. Solae's SDA-soybean has been nutritionally enhanced to provide higher omega-3 in food. It has already been given GRAS status and will be commercially available by 2012, pending regulatory approval.

The symposium started with Dr. Richard J. Deckelbaum’s presentation explaining the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids which include promoting infant growth (brain and eye development) during pregnancy, delaying onset of neurological depression in elders and preventing cardiovascular diseases by reducing aortic lipid deposition. He also gave a brief overview of how the SDA enriched soybean was engineered by adding two genes (from primrose and bread mold) to express SDA, which bypasses the rate limiting step in the body and converts more efficiently to EPA.

Dr. Eileen Kennedy focussed on the environmental aspects and RDA guidelines by pointing out how Americans in general were getting just 25% of the requirements and that seafood consumption had been recommended to be increased from 3 ounces to 8 ounces per week, replacing the meat and poultry sources. The recommended daily intake of omega-3s in US is 250 mg/day as compared to 400 mg/day in the UK. She also said, “SDA soybeans are a viable plant-based solution to increasing dietary omega-3 intakes”.

The mechanisms of action of omega-3s are still largely unexplored. Studies indicate that there could be a direct function by activating a transcription factor or by a much indirect action of changes in cell membrane phospholipids composition. Dr. William Harris spoke about the challenges of having 'nutrition biased' foods comparing SDA-soybean to iodine salt and other fortified foods.

Usually, omega-3 index is used to estimate its levels in the body which is a ratio of amount of EPA & DHA to total fatty acids. Current levels in the American population are 3.5-4 as compared to a target level of 8-10. SDA-soybean has been shown to significantly increase the omega-3 index in humans.

Other advantages of SDA-soybean were also highlighted as it has a better oxidative stability as compared to EPA/DHA and soybeans in general have a good anti-oxidant protection leading to better shelf-life. It also does not significantly impact flavor or taste, which could be an upper hand given the formulation difficulties with seafoods.

Overall, the symposium was quite enlightening and the speakers included some of the world’s best experts in omega-3 research.

[This blog was originally meant for submission to American Society for Nutrition following on Experimental Biology meeting in April 2011]

Uttar Pradesh must awaken now, and Saharanpur has a potential to lead

The developmental challenges which are faced by Uttar Pradesh today are enormous in magnitude. Ours is not only the most populous state of India, but it also has the lowest Human Development Index of 0.388 (a measure of life expectancy, literacy and standard of living); Kerala is 0.638, while the overall national index is 0.472.

Saharanpur has a great potential in leading the overall developmental progress of UP. It's geographic location is strategic, sharing borders with Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal. Proximity to the national capital is indeed another great advantage.

But how and when will things change?

Reading about the recent farmer protests in the Greater Noida area, I did a search for 'Bhatta-Parsaul' on google-images to find out where it exactly lay on the map, but all I got was politicians' photos. This itself shows the immense politicization of real issues. Politicians cling to any and every opportunity to get public attention. The good old wikipedia says, “Public choice economics teaches that any issue where any group has a substantial financial stake is likely to be politicized.” However, the common man is not aware of it, since the background political objectives don’t really show up in the media - our sole source of knowledge.

To make matters worse is the pathetic situation of our media. Recently Amar Singh's tapes were released in which Prabhu Chawla is seen pleading and fixing the news. Then the 'India Today' editor, Chawla is heard saying, "Aapki saari news chalaa dunga, main haath jodta hoon aapke saamne Amar Singh ji, haath jodta hoon". But unfortunately, all that we are interested in is his sensational call to Bipasha! No one seems to be going after Amar Singh, the main culprit in running the underground corruption network of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.

The need of the hour is for us people to distinguish between the projection of media and the real issues lying at the hurdle of development. We must understand that our opinion is highly or maybe purely framed by our news channels which are in turn biased towards certain political ideologies. This creates a cancer of ignorance in the public opinion. If we can only see and understand these biases, there can be a huge shift in our general understanding. Once our understanding is clear and proper, our actions will certainly fall along the right line, and development will itself happen. I would like to end by Swami Vivekananda’s powerful quote - “We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.”

Cool Chilies!

This blog is published in the American Society for Nutrition's page.

Click here to read it.

Blur Connections: Mechanical Workshop in first year of Biotechnology course!

I went to popular engineering college in south India. As is customarary for all engineering courses, there was a common syllabus for the first year of all branches of engineering. This included mechanical worshop, electrical & electronics, computer science etc. Although we enjoyed all of this as it gave a more broad and kind of 'engineering' feel, we never thought of using those rudimentary techniques in a sophisticated field like biotechnolgy.
Three years down the line, during my final year, I decided to design a bioreactor for my project. All my mechanical engineering knowledge came into picture right away. We had to use chemical engineering principles to optimize the mass and heat transfer, CAD to design the model and workshop (sheet metal) to build a prototype before actually getting a stainless stell bioreactor manufactured in a factory.
As Steve Jobs says, "you can only connect the dots looking backward". Cutting sheet-metal and hammering it to get a perfect shape of a cone during the first year it was difficult to realize how it would connect down the line. But looking back it was a lot more easy.

A Note on BT Brinjal

The Govt. of India is facing strong opposition to introduce the BT Brinjal in the market. I, here, try to evaluate the pros and cons of this issue.

The first question is whether the BT brinjal is safe or not. Now, anyone who has studied bioethics or plant biotechnology, will not say it with full surety, that the genetically modified (GM) variety is totally innocuous. Actually that’s one drawback of biotechnology. You generally can’t be fully sure. Tests are conducted on a statistical and probabilistic basis, which may not be a complete representation of the broad spectrum of conditions which the new variety may be exposed to. Well, if you need to see the long term effects, you simply need to plant the new variety for long time. But that’s not feasible. If we go this way, by the time the new variety will be ready to be released in the market, it would be outdated.

However, this doesn’t mean that we should not embrace GM crops at all. The benefits of not having to rely on pesticides and the increased output from the hybrid varieties outweigh the cons stated above. An Indian farmer has got a lot to worry about. Irrigation problems, power cuts, lack of technology, education and awareness, natural calamities are some of the many monsters of agricultural growth. GM varieties atleast assure some benefits to the farmers in contrast to the ‘bharat sarkar’. Also, the Indian experience of BT cotton has been wonderful and its high time now that we replicate such benefits in other crops.

The major issue to be discussed is the monopoly of the MNCs. And this is what worries the farmers. A GM/hybrid variety is much more potent and strong than the wild type and they are engineered in such a way that they can only be used for one season, i.e. they can’t form fertile seeds. When more and more farmers start growing the hybrid variety, the wild type seeds start to vanish from the market, because there’s no one growing them. This means after some years, there is a complete monopoly of the company selling the seeds and in this case its generally just one or two.

There is no regulatory framework governing the GM varieties because the Indian Seed Act of 1966 is antiquated. What we need is to have proper regulatory framework and strict guidelines on the marketing of GM seeds. Protests and disagreements will always be there in a large democracy like India. There are some who raise valid points which need to be looked on. But then there are some who blindly oppose for the sake of opposing. Linking all the damned ill-effects , cancer and diseases to the GM seeds will neither help us gain food-independence nor solve any other purpose. But, opening our minds will!